Ulfa-I confirms cadre death

In a statement emailed to the media by Ulfa’s assistant publicity secretary Arunoday Asom, the outfit claimed that Saikia had committed suicide.

She had reportedly gone missing from an Ulfa camp at an undisclosed place on January 5 and her body was recovered about 3km from the camp on January 19.

The statement comes in the wake of speculation doing the rounds that she was executed by her colleagues, as she was planning to surrender to police.

The statement said an inquiry conducted by the outfit has established that she had committed suicide and claimed she had lost her mental balance. The outfit paid tribute and condoled the untimely demise of their leader.

The outfit said it took them some time to confirm her death because they were waiting for the internal inquiry into her death to be completed, which subsequently found it to be a case of suicide.

The rumours about her execution had been fuelled after Ulfa announced on January 15 that its assistant finance secretary and self-styled captain Partha Asom alias Pramod Gogoi had been executed for being allegedly involved in anti-organisational activities. Police sources claimed Gogoi was killed because he had decided to quit the outfit to join the mainstream.

Gogoi and Saikia both hail from Sivasagar district in Upper Assam.

A police officer, requesting anonymity, said they have received information that 10 lower-rung cadres of the Paresh Barua-led faction were executed few weeks ago for allegedly trying to flee from their camps in Myanmar.

“These boys were very unhappy as they were tricked into joining the outfit and were living in inhuman conditions in the Ulfa (I) camps of Myanmar,” he claimed.